AI Has Made Political Philosophy Relevant Again
Dr. Ece Tekbulut is a political philosopher and the founder of Thinking Through. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Through Thinking Through, she creates spaces for people to become better thinkers. Her work brings rigorous philosophical inquiry into everyday life, exploring themes relevant to modern society.
I was on Capitol Hill on May 18th, on a panel called “Expanding the AI Narrative: AI Ethics, Safety, Economic & Cultural Impact.” I was invited to speak about the normative questions surrounding AI, and about the real tradeoffs for our society. I spoke about public trust in AI, the transformation awaiting white-collar workers, and the political contradictions shaping our response to technological change. Here are the points that resonated with people.
1. A positive vision of AI is needed for public trust and political legitimacy
One of the points I emphasized was that building a positive vision around AI is not simply a technology policy question for the United States, it is also a matter of trust in government and geopolitical competitiveness. According to Stanford University’s 2026 AI Index, among 30 countries surveyed, Americans are the population least likely to trust their government to regulate AI in ways that benefit society. This creates not only a political legitimacy problem for the U.S. government, but may also undermine its aspirations for global tech leadership. How are you going to claim that position if your own population has an aversion to it?
In China, AI is often framed and deployed as a tool that improves everyday life through healthcare, education, and public services. In the U.S., the AI narrative and strategy are largely centred around automation and superintelligence. People cannot see how their own lives will improve. Instead, there are fears of losing livelihoods without a safety net from the government. Technological leadership cannot be sustained without public confidence.
2. The outsourcing threat for white-collar workers
Another theme I explored was the changing nature of white-collar labour. Drawing on MIT professor Danielle Li et al.’s research, I argued that companies now have a new pathway to outsourcing, one that happens inside the building. In one of the first studies of its kind, Li et al. examined a Fortune 500 company that introduced AI agents to assist roughly 5,000 customer service staff on calls with clients. The findings suggest that less experienced, lower-skilled workers saw significant improvements in both the speed and quality of their output. The most experienced, highest-skilled workers saw no meaningful improvement, however. Some even declined. Why? Because the AI agents were already trained on call recordings of those top performers. Their expertise, both technical and personal, was diffused across the organization through AI, reducing their competitive edge in the process and taking away their leverage.
Globalization outsourced factories to offshore lands, and now white-collar expertise itself is being digitally replicated and distributed. Companies can opt for lower-wage, lower-experience workers and rely on AI, trained by their best people, to amplify their performance. The best people then become the expensive option. Can the permanent transfer of an employee’s expertise into an AI system ever be legitimate? Can it ever be fully compensated?
3. The conservative puzzle
During the panel, all speakers talked about the expectation that the burdens of AI will fall on ordinary people, while the benefits stay in the hands of the few. A member of the Republican Party declared that he wants AI to be regulated, but does not want the government to do it. The first thing that came to my mind was Otto von Bismarck. He created one of the first modern social security systems, and he was no socialist. He was a conservative. Large-scale economic transformations often require new forms of social protection. Otherwise, governments are bound to face social and political instability.
Overall, the future of AI is not simply a technical question. It is a question of social trust, political legitimacy, and social justice. Thus, AI has made political philosophy relevant again, and it was a genuine honour to be part of that conversation as its practitioner.
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Ece Tekbulut, Political Philosopher and Founder
Dr. Ece Tekbulut is a political philosopher, cultural entrepreneur, and public intellectual. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University, where her research examined democracy, risk, and emergency powers. She is the founder of Thinking Through, a New York-based philosophy salon that brings rigorous ideas into conversation with everyday life. Through curated discussions on love, friendship, adulthood, money, cities, power, and AI, she invites participants to actively grapple with the philosophical questions shaping modern society. Her work creates spaces where people think together, challenge assumptions, and practice serious reflection beyond academia.
